Common use of Substantive Provisions Clause in Contracts

Substantive Provisions. A. MENTAL HEALTH CARE The following substantive provisions are intended to address the findings of the United States in connection with its investigation of, and apply only to, South Bend and Logansport. 1. The State shall ensure that adequate mental health care and treatment services are provided to youth in the facilities. 2. The State shall develop and implement policies and procedures, and practices to ensure that all youth admitted to the facilities are comprehensively screened by qualified mental health professionals in a timely manner utilizing reliable and valid measures. All youth committed to the State’s care shall receive a comprehensive mental health screen. Additional mental health services will be available by qualified mental health professionals to all youth needing such care. Available Mental Health Staff will include psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, and licensed mental health counselors. Staffing patterns will be consistently assessed to assure appropriate numbers of staff at all facilities. 3. The State shall ensure that youth whose mental health screens indicate the possible need for mental health services receive timely, comprehensive, and appropriate assessments by qualified mental health professionals. Assessments shall be updated as new diagnostic and treatment information becomes available. An initial mental health screening will occur within the first 24 hours of entry to a juvenile facility. The screening will include an initial intake, medication review, and needs assessment. A follow-up mental health assessment and, if indicated, a psychiatric referral will occur within the first seven days of entry to a juvenile facility. 4. The State shall develop and implement policies and procedures to assure appropriate action when an intake screening indicates that a youth is taking, or prior to admission may have been prescribed, psychotropic medications. This shall include appropriate steps to contact the prescribing psychiatrist when necessary and referral to the facility’s psychiatrist for evaluation. A psychiatrist will be available to intake staff on a twenty-four hour basis. Psychiatric referrals shall be made based on the intake assessment and whenever the youth has been treated with psychotropic medication within the past sixty days. 5. Each youth in need of psychiatric services, including monitoring of the use or discontinuation of psychotropic medications, shall be under the care of a licensed psychiatrist. The State shall maintain in its employ, and/or by contract, sufficient psychiatric services to fulfill the following functions: a. Conduct needed psychiatric evaluations prior to placing a youth on, or discontinuing, psychotropic medications; b. Monitor, as appropriate but at least monthly, all youth prescribed psychotropic medications for the efficacy and the side effects thereof. The psychiatrist shall consult with facility medical, counseling, and security staff; c. Monitor youth whose psychotropic medications have been discontinued, and provide timely follow-up assessments to determine whether a return to treatment with psychotropic medications is appropriate; d. Collaborate with treatment teams regarding youth under the psychiatrist’s care; e. Provide individual counseling and psychotherapy when needed, in coordination with facility psychologists; f. Evaluate and treat in a timely manner all youths referred as possibly needing psychiatric services; and g. Provide adequate documentation of treatment in the facility medical records. B. PROTECTION FROM HARM The following substantive provisions are intended to address the findings of the United States in connection with its investigation of, and apply only to, South Bend. 1. The State shall, at all times, provide youth in the facility with reasonably safe conditions of confinement. 2. The State shall take reasonable measures, including those required by Indiana Code 16-21-8-5 and 31-33-5-4, to protect youth in the facilities from physical harm and sexual abuse while those youth are in the State’s custody. 3. The State shall take reasonable measures to provide safe and appropriate housing for youth, including sex offenders. 4. The State shall ensure that there are sufficient numbers of adequately trained direct care and supervisory staff to supervise youth safely and to protect youth from harm. 5. The State shall implement comprehensive policies, procedures, and practices governing uses of force, ensuring that excessive force is not used on youth, taking into account the safety of staff, youth residents, and visitors. 6. The State shall develop and implement an adequate system for management review and, when deemed appropriate by management, investigation by senior management of uses of force, alleged child abuse, youth-on-youth violence, and alleged sexual contacts. 7. The State shall provide appropriate competency-based training to staff in behavior management, de-escalation techniques, appropriate communication with youth, and crisis intervention before staff may work in direct contact with youth. 8. The State shall implement policies, procedures, and practices to ensure that South Bend has a functional and responsive grievance system that ensures that youth have a reasonably safe environment. C. SPECIAL EDUCATION The following substantive provisions are intended to address the findings of the United States in connection with its investigation of, and apply only to, South Bend. 1. The State shall, at all times, provide all qualified youth with adequate special education in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. 1400, et seq., and regulations promulgated thereunder, and this Agreement. 2. The State shall designate a Director of Education to oversee the special education programs at South Bend. The Director shall meet minimum standards as specified by the State. The State shall provide the Director with sufficient staff and resources to perform the tasks required by this Agreement, including: a. Overseeing the special education programming at South Bend, including the development and implementation of policies, procedural manuals, and training programs; b. Monitoring whether special education staffing and resources are sufficient to provide adequate special education services to youth at South Bend and to ensure compliance with this Agreement; c. Developing and implementing a quality assurance program for special education services; d. Developing and implementing an adequate vocational education program for youth with disabilities; e. Developing and implementing a curriculum for special education instruction at South Bend; f. Ensuring that special education teachers are appropriately licensed to teach assigned courses by requiring that all licensed teachers at the facility obtain certification in special education by the Indiana Department of Education within 180 days of the date of this Agreement; g. Ensuring that all teachers at the facility obtain the status of “highly qualified” within their instructional area from the Indiana Department of Education by July 1, 2006; h. Ensuring that all teachers at the facility develop and implement appropriate lesson plans for each student; i. Ensuring that the appropriate facility supervisors at the facility regularly perform classroom observations; and j. Ensuring that teachers at the facility who do not develop and implement appropriate lesson plans for each student are subjected to appropriate and regular performance reviews which may result in termination of employment. 3. The State shall ensure that all students who qualify for special education services receive such services within a reasonable time following intake. 4. The State shall develop and implement an education staffing plan to ensure adequate staff to comply with the terms of this Agreement. This plan shall provide for: a. Sufficient access to instructional services by certified special education teachers and staff to provide all youth with the opportunity to attend school full-time and to obtain adequate educational services, and to provide teachers with sufficient time to plan lessons, grade assignments, and participate in special education meetings; b. Sufficient psychologist services to provide psychologist participation in the development of IEPs, administration of psycho-educational assessments, consultation with teachers and staff, and individual counseling related specifically to issues in youth’s IEPs; and c. Sufficient services of speech and language professionals, audiologists, and other specialized professionals to meet the related services needs specified in the IEPs. 5. Consistent with federal regulations, the State shall provide prompt and adequate screening of youth for special education needs and shall identify youth who are receiving special education in their home school districts or who may be eligible to receive special education services but have not been so identified in the past. Such services shall include: a. Guidelines for interviewing youth upon admission to determine past receipt of special education services; b. Protocols developed in conjunction with local school districts and the State Department of Education for expedited reporting of special education status of students entering South Bend, conducting adequate testing of youths’ substantive educational knowledge, and performing necessary vision and hearing tests; c. Procedures identifying criteria under which staff or teachers must refer a student for evaluation for special education eligibility, including identifying criteria under which youth whose behavior has led to repeated exclusion from class must be referred for evaluation; d. Policies describing the required activities of Student Support Team pre-referral and support team functions; e. Policies describing the requirements for comprehensive evaluation procedures to determine eligibility for special education services; and f. Policies describing the criteria for multi- disciplinary team decision-making regarding eligibility for special education.